SECURITY!

Of all the moms that I know, I don't know ANY who are as strongly opinionated on this subject at I am... so, I'm just going to voice my opinion, and possibly open up a can of worms. oh well.

I have a huge issue with "Security" blankets, "Favorite" stuffed animals, and Pacifier use beyond a year. Let me give you my reasons.

I feel like Security blankets only allow your child to be shy and hold back. Besides, as an adult trying to get a child to interact with other children, it drives me NUTS when you have to work around them. It is like giving the kid a free pass just because they have that crutch that is NOT NECESSARY! I mean, if you never pushed that blanket on the child they wouldn't have this issue. I am pretty sure it starts innocently enough. When the baby is crying, you give her a blanket. Since it worked you kept doing it. Then when the older child gets emotional at all, you ask if they want their blanket. And when the child is 2 or 3 you are still asking them if they want their blanket, only this time, it's not the child who is ACTING like they want it, you just are doing it out of habit. And now your kid has a complex and can't participate in social activities because he or she has to have one hand on that blanket at all times. I know I'm probably 90% wrong, but these are the things that go through my head.

And as for that Favorite Stuffed Animal. Let me tell you... If you allow your child to get SO attached to a toy that you are having to take it from another child to give it to your kid so they stop screaming... you have another thing coming. Allowing your child to have that one toy that is theirs, and theirs alone... you are teaching them that they do not, in fact, have to share. That if they want something bad enough, they just need to make a stink about it and they will get it eventually. That their friends/siblings don't really get to share their toys. Isn't that sending mixed signals? And if you DO allow your child to become this attached to something, DO NOT bring it out in public... i.e. sending it to a social activity as a "security thing". This causes all KINDS of problems when another kid gets a hold of it. Your kid WILL set it down eventually, then another kid will pick it up and start playing with it. Is it this kid who is wrong? No, your child was finished playing with it for now. He should share and let the other kid play with it for a while. I HATE it hen an adult takes that toy away and says "Oh, this stuffed animal actually belongs to Bobby. Sorry." and takes it from the kid who rightfully picked it up and gives it to the screaming kid. I mean, COME ON! If you would just cycle your toys every once in a while, if you see that your child is growing attached to one toy, let it retire for a while until he loses interest. This doesn't allow your child to be so attached to a toy that you have these kinds of issues. And if someone does come over to play with your kids toys... that is the POINT of having friends over, to SHARE your toys... duh!

And Pacifiers... they just are annoying. I mean, I see the point of them when the child is an infant. Don't get me wrong, my kid used one. But once she turned 6 months I quit giving it to her during the day. She ONLY got it at night or at naps. By one, ONLY at night, NOT at naps. and the only reason she kept using it until she was 2 was because she was sharing a room with me and her sister at the time. But again, ONLY AT NIGHT. I refused to allow her to have it in when she woke up. Not only would that create speech delays and oral malformations... blah blah blah... that's not what I did it for. Allowing your kid to have a pacifier when it is not necessary again gives in to the "Security" item. The item that is Theirs and Theirs alone. It separates them from the group, it isolates them from any form of communication and socialization, and it gives them that "crutch" and an "excuse" to be that way. It's like putting a sticky note on your kids forehead that says "I am still a baby, you should treat me like it."

Again, these are my opinions, (there are plenty more where they came from). I am sure that all my mommy friends who read this will either completely agree or get defensive and completely disagree. But no matter what you did with your child (or plan to do) it is your decision. I would never judge you based on how you do things with your kids. These are just my opinions. take them or leave them.

love you all!

New Recipe

Hey all, I invented a new recipe from what I had in my fridge/pantry.

This recipe started out because I had a tube of Pork Sausage that needed to be cooked.

Spinach Sausage Pie:

Ingredients
-1lb ground pork sausage
-1 can spinach (drained)
-1 brick cream cheese
-1 can Beefy Mushroom soup (Campbell's)
-2 tubes crescent rolls

Preheat oven to 350F. Brown sausage in pan, add spinach, cream cheese, soup. Do not add water. Let ingredients mix until cream cheese is melted and thoroughly combined with other ingredients. Drain liquid from mixture and set aside (you will use this as a sauce to top the pie).

Roll out 1 tube of crescent rolls onto a greased bar pan (I just got new stoneware pans, so I used the medium bar pan from Pampered Chef). Pinch edges together to form one crust. Top with sausage mixture. Bake at 350F for 10 minutes. Roll out second tube of rolls and use as a top crust for the pie. Bake until crust turns brown and flaky.

Let cool for a few minutes, cut into pieces and serve with extra "sauce" on top. DELICIOUS!!!

This Picture does not have sauce on top. oops.

Red and Yellow, "African American" and "Caucasian"... or something like that.

When you have to fill in that race bubble on tests and stuff you only get a few choices, "Caucasian" "African American" "Asian or Pacific Islander" or "Other". This has always bothered me.

I never understood why we, as white people, have to refer to black people as "African American". For one thing, not all of them come from Africa. There are Black people in Asia, Europe, South America, North America... pretty much every where. So, if someone emigrated from India to the U.S., why are they still considered African American? Maybe I am just missing some fact, but it has never made sense to me. Also, most of America's black population has been born and raised in the U.S. and were not immigrants, nor were their parents or grand parents... and their heritage is just as muddled up as most white Americans.

I just recently learned that the term "Caucasian" stems from the Caucasus Mountain region of the Middle East."It comes from the idea that the inhabitants of the Caucasus displayed the ideal human features. Therefore, the inference was made that this region was the birthplace of mankind. This is all based on the inherently racist idea that white people exhibit the best human characteristics!" (http://www.omg-facts.com/view/Facts/24649) This is a completely Racist ideology. Besides, I did not come from the Caucasus Mountains, did you? And, weather you believe in the Bible or not, science has proved that the humans stem from Africa, not Europe.

So if we are going to be calling black Americans "African Americans" shouldn't we be calling ALL Americans "African Americans"? In which case, we need to use a completely different set of vocabulary to make the distinction between "Black people" and "White people" (and don't tell me that we don't need to make a distinction... you use the word "brunette" or "blonde" or "red head" to describe different people, you NEED to have a word to describe someone's skin color as well. If God did not want us to be different, he would not have made different races of people... duh) I think the best word to describe "White people" is "White" or "Peach" if you want to be more specific. (or tan, or lobster... lol) And the best word to describe "Black people" is "Black" or "Brown" or "Light Brown" or... You are describing the color of their skin, not their ancestry.

Now, if you ARE talking about their ancestry, then YES you need to be specific. But for the most part, when you hear people use the term "African American" or "Afro-American" they are usually generalizing the term and referring to the person's outside appearance, not their heritage.

Please forgive me if you think I am being ignorant. I have ZERO intention to offend anyone. And if you think I am wrong, please feel free to correct me. HOWEVER, please do so in a manner that is respectful. I have a huge thing against people stating their opinions in a way which disrespects the beliefs of others. We can be civil and still have differing opinions.

yeah, that's about it.

You are Bad!

Is there a difference between the phrase "You are bad!" and "That was bad!"?

Let us think about this for a second. If you tell your child "Bad Girl!" or "You were bad." you are telling them that they are a bad person. If you tell your child "That was bad!" or "What you did was bad." you are telling them that they made a bad decision, that their actions were bad"

God does not make "Bad People". What God made was perfect, but we have a sinful nature. Meaning, we make poor choices sometimes. but making bad decisions does not make us bad people. Especially when you are talking about a child. A child whose brain can not make logical decisions yet. Who is incapable of making good choices. Isn't that why it is illegal for a person under 21 to drink alcohol? they don't have a fully developed brain and are not able to distinguish a good decision from a bad one? I am not saying they should have no consequences for their actions. on the contrary. I think every decision a child makes should have the proper consequences. How else will they learn to make good decisions if they don't get reprimanded for the bad ones?

I do not want to tell my 2 year old that she is a bad person. She is only 2! I do not want her growing up thinking she is worthless and can't do anything right. I do not want to instill in her a sense of worthlessness. If a child is told all her life that she is bad, what is to keep her from continuing those bad choices through adulthood? If there is nothing she can do to make herself a better person, why try? Why not just do what you want and live for yourself? If you call me a bad person, then I will act like a bad person!

If you tell your child "What you did was bad." or "That was bad!" you are telling them that their decision was poor. You are letting them know that they are not a bad person, but that they made a mistake. Giving them the opportunity to change their ways and make a better decision next time. Especially if you tell them "I love you, but what you did was wrong." this lets the child know that they have not lost your love, but just because you love them does not mean you can overlook their bad choice. God loves his children, but he gives us consequences for our actions. That does not mean he does not love us, just that we need to see that what we did was wrong.

Also, constantly giving positive feedback for good actions is a GREAT way to show the child what she SHOULD do, so that when she does mess up she knows she can still do good things as well. Saying things like "That was Very Nice!" or "Good Girl for...!" are great ways to give positive feedback and encourage good behavior.


ha! this did start out as a sort of rant. and ended up more like a child development lesson. oh well.

Those are my thoughts for the day.

September = School?

So, it is now September. And with all the back to school sales at stores, commercials on TV, and friends talking about sending their kids to school, I have been thinking... I need to start thinking about education for my kids.

So, these last few weeks I've been researching Home Schooling and Private Schooling. (I am too afraid of public school to research that yet. lol. BUT, I WILL, when I work up the courage)

I realize that my children are not yet 2 and 1 yet, but I think that if we get an early start, they will be so much better off and more prepared when they do go to school in a few years. From my research, I have found several websites and online articles which I have found to be of interest. The first of which is: http://www.greatschools.org/students/academic-skills/K-5-benchmarks.gs?content=531 . This is an article on what your child should know (academically and socially) coming out of grades K-5. The article also encourages you to check with your child's classroom and State's academic standards (http://www.greatschools.org/content/stateStandards.page?cpn=20090512my5) for more information on what your child is required to learn.

The State of Wisconsin does keep close tabs on its Home Schooled children. This is the Home School Legal Defense Association article which informs you of the Wisconsin State laws and regulations on Home School Education: http://www.hslda.org/laws/analysis/Wisconsin.pdf . It defines Home School and puts guidelines on things such as number of hours of study, age at which you are required to be enrolled, and the freedom from state assessment, curriculum, and certified teachers.

This is my favorite Site yet: http://ourpreschoolhomeschool.blogspot.com/ . It is the journey of a mom and her children through Pre-School education. She includes teaching materials, subject ideas, her own developed curriculum, and other resources to help you make your child's education journey a success. She also has an Elementary Blog and a High School Blog.

I am planing to begin Home School Preschool when Bre turnes 2. I don't mean the sit at the kitchen table and complete your worksheets type of home school. I mean, we will begin our learning process and developing our education skills in a structured manner. I plan to have lessons which we will tackle a week at a time, incorporating our lessons into our every day activities. Generally, getting Breanna excited and ready to learn, whatever avenue of education I decide to pursue.

I am ALMOST ready for our education adventure!  (still biting nails)

All the little Children

I just saw a video of children being buried alive in the amazon. i do not want to share it with you because i can not get the image out of my head! it makes me want to go collect all the unwanted children and care for them myself! It's a good thing that our God is a merciful God. I have to keep reminding myself that those children will be with him. what would poses someone to bury an innocent child alive!

and why the HECK would someone video tape this horrific act and not do anything to stop it?! I want to go to the film maker and kick him in the face! how can you just stand by and allow someone to not only be treated that way, but to be killed! because she was 2 years old and couldn't walk or talk yet. "Jesus loves the little children... All the children of the world..." I love my children, and I want you all to know that I would have no problem using old testament law on ANYONE who does anything to hurt my child! "An eye for an eye..." My foot up your ASS! obviously i am COMPLETELY horrified at this whole thing. why the CRAP did i hit play on that stupid video?!

my head is spinning from trying to think of ways to stop this from happening to any child. and the thing that is so depressing is that i know that no matter what i do, it will still happen. the world is in such a bad state right now that people kill their own children! or do worse things to them... It's times like these that make me grateful for biblical prophecy. I am so glad to know that there will be a day where there's no more pain. I truly know the meaning behind the words "for me to life is Chrst, but to Die is gain." Oh to escape this horrible place.

can you imagine being God and seeing your creation, what you created to be good, created to glorify you, what you love with everything you have... become something so terrible. like being a mother, who raises a son she loves so much! and through no fault of her own, he turns into a murderer. how can you un-love him. you can't. but it makes your heart break every time you think about your creation, your off spring, being such a bad person.

It's no wonder God caused the Flood in Genesis. I always wonder why he did it so early. If today's times are just as bad, or worse, why wouldn't he have waited until now to wipe the slate clean? or, have come back and set things right before they got worse? Obviously I'm not God. I just wish I could do more for this world than sit back and watch it kill its self. and drag the innocent down with it.

God, I love my children, and I thank you for giving them to me. But next time, would it be too much to ask to get rid of the bad stuff before the good gets a chance to be tainted? 

I am truly heart broken.

http://www.survivalinternational.org/

http://www.hakani.org/

Wilted Lettuce?

What do you do with Lettuce that is going bad?

Have you ever had cooked lettuce??

Tear the head of lettuce like you would a salad (i used romaine). Boil the lettuce until it is limp. Drain. Add a table spoon of butter and a quarter tsp of vinegar. S&P. also, add fresh mushrooms if you like. DELICIOUS! even Chris liked it.

Frugal food tip :)